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Moraghan Training - Stevie G
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I remember how easy it is just to sit at a desk all day without much running round it!
Gentle progress continues. 6 this morning back to back after the 9 and day out yesterday. Will pootle a 3 out in a moment to get the doubles re-introduced.
Racing fees a way off, as i've got to go through the mileage - some efforts - some decent efforts - usual trudge first.
SG - good to see you back doing a bit and good to see you being sensible on rebuilding.
Reg - sorry to read you've been hit by lurgy. Probably a good time for it relative to Hyrox though. How're you feeling for that?
SC - nice km reps. Hopefully the lurgy/sniffles have come to nothing.
Jools & TR - as elsewhere, good training chaps.
Week before last was 50m, all easy, with a longest run of just 55mins, which was my biggest week since mid-January (which gives a good idea of the impact of these issues). Last week I'd intended to match it, but work, manual labour, and more work, got in the way, plus I made a conscious decision to step back and 'recover harder' so didn't force it.
It also turns out I had a bout of covid at the same time as my tummy problems kicked into overdrive, which explains some of the symptoms on its own, as well as explaining why some of the others were much worse than I've had before.
Still not 100% but definitely feeling ok to start rebuilding, so 10mins warm-up yesterday before 45mins @ 85-90% of cMP (6:52, so probably closer to 90 than 85). Out this morning in the wind for 2m easy either side of 5 x ~100m max effort hillsprints which felt horribly uncoordinated (but virtuous to actually be getting my finger out; lol).
I've got a bit of Tinnitus which hopefully will bugger off soon. Just a bit annoying at night when you are trying to go to sleep.
Relays were OK. I was leg 9, long leg for the B team. Got there on train ok from Northampton, where we had driven to do Parkrun (wife's 250th). Shame about the way home.
Decided on VF rather then the Takumi Sen as the hills are early and didn't want to batter my legs on the downhills, plus the leg is 5.4 miles.
So it's start downhill, slightly up then a right and a downhill stretch until you turn right for the first long drag. Trying to keep it steady at this point. At the top, it's a double back for a long downhill then a slight rise to join the start hill!
So it's left up the first hill, first mile done in 5.36. Right to the top and most of the hills already done!
Then its a slight down and up to the Jubilee stone where the lucky short leg buggers turn right and go down the hills. We turn left and go through 2 miles - 5.36 again. Couple of undulations and then a long 4-500m to the turn around.
Then back to the jubilee stone, 3rd mile passed in 5.42. Then the long downhill to the lake, 5.39 for mile 4. Flat bit, then one rise, then another and flat to the bottom of the start hill, Mile 5 in 5.22.
Then up the hill for 29.58 finish time. Our B team was 31st, 5th B team. Our A team was 15th, our best ever finish.
Couple of pints after, one in Brum, then train back. Had to wait for an hour at Northampton, back 11pm.
8 miles Sunday, about the same yesterday. Not over to Luton tonight - work mental, not 100% & bloody windy.
Good luck with the rebuilding TT. Hyrox training has taken a step back last month or so. A combination of the ankle injury and 10 days of coughing means I have just been doing the bare minimum. Done some easy running and kept the weights going but mainly just easy on the machines with no progression so just making sure I don't get weaker. Ankle still isn't 100% but it's not too bad.
Coughed and spat my way through a windy 9 miler today, can't say I enjoyed it much.
Reg - hope you get fit and healthy for your hyrox event.
SG - you're far too much of a running nerd to not run a marathon one day. But that same thing would have you massively over thinking it and becoming a nervous wreck, so maybe it's best not to.
TR - Less entertaining
Sounds pretty rough, Reg. Hope you are 100% soon and you can have a proper hit at the hyrox.
Great stuff at the relays, SC. Late finish! Enjoyed the photos. Quite like your shirt. Still got it?
Good to see som progress, TT. I can never get excited about hill sprints and the first few do feel like I am flailing my arms and legs around so I get what you mean. But always feel better by the end!
Any hint of a session this week, SG?
40M Mon-Thurs so far this week. Tuesday morning was 92 minutes including 60 mins of wave tempo: 10 x (3 minutes 10-15s faster than MP, 3 mins 10-15s slower than MP). Had to fit it in with an early 0510 start and took a while to get going. In fact, the initial step out the door conditions were amongst the worst I’ve ever begun a run into: filthy wind, rain and cold. I run past a 24h gym less than half a mile from home and seriously considered signing up there and then to use the treadmill. Resisted this temptation though, and the conditions improved after 20 minutes or so, enough to tie the rain jacket to a tree.
Urban 1.1M loop on repeat, with the average paces coming out at 6:27s and 6:54s. I suspect the loop is a little GPS friendly.
Double recovery yesterday and then 10k up on the hill this morning. Very tired after some weights last night and the first mile was in 10:15!! Although usual caveat of 55m elevation and into the wind blah, blah.
Will keep things very easy now in advance for the 5k on Saturday evening. I am in Wave 1 (slowest) at 1700, before the elite women (and appropriately paced men) and then elite men in the latter waves. Looking forward to spectating as well as racing.
Tasty relay leg there!
Reg - hopefully you recover quickly for a last push for it.
SQ - doing hillsprints at max effort was a new one for me. I find if I do them consistently they really improve things from a neuromuscular aspect, but the first few weeks tend to just feel awkward like you say. Good volume from you. That 10 x 3/3 this morning is very Canova-like!
Good luck for Saturday.
6m easy Tuesday evening, and then just a solitary 5m jog yesterday am. Haven't been out yet today, but hopefully a bit of fartlek if I feel good when I do get out.
SQ - More impressive training runs, makes me tired thinking about it!
Just checked the date of the final - 18/4/98, nearly 26 years ago. Yes loved that shirt and the 'Britpop' jumper
Was living in Nottingham at the time, moved down to Pompey that September to do my Personnel M'ment diploma and met the missus.
So put in a light 12x30secs off 90secs jog today, low 6s, all the way down to a few mid 5s, for the first running sub 7 in 3 weeks! Can feel it's coming back a bit.
Hill sprints!
I remember once combining a properly steep hill with sprints and it wrecked my legs for days. Days I tells ye! Then found out any semblance of sprints should be on a slope, not a steep hill
Second silliest hill error to once mistaking 0.3km and 0.3m for the rep length. Time was creeping on and it felt hard then I suddenly realised what I'd done
SC - You were a young dastard back then. We all were
Thought i'd had a moment of clarity on the drive home last night - get the local club joined as 1st claim - get it done.
Then realised that because they don't allow you to race their home race, I still have a slight conundrum with timing.
Smart money is entering it now, as either unaffiliated or as my current lot, but that means i'd actually have to sign on as 2nd claim - and you can only be 2nd claim if you have a 1st claim club
Throw in that it's a race I don't necessarily want to do if I'm not going decently, then erm, i'm still holding off
Wycombe phoenix, a crack ac doing mad sessions doesn't seem the right move.
Marlow, my old lot, the romantic choice but probs too social truth be told. And rules you out of the Marlow 7/10k/hm in Nov as they bar their runners entering.
1st claim HX and 2nd claim DD signed up and got the ball rolling with the £10 EA portal transfer
Makes the 3 week comeback in mileage,10-34-60.5. The 60.5 having some light efforts.
Right mix of stepping it back up, but at the right time.
Definitely wouldn't have been right doing Reading HM today. Saw someone else I follow on strava saying they'd been coughing recently, and they ended up doing 1hr 28 after a couple of 6min miles! Must have been a miserable meltdown from that!
SG - hills depend on the requirement. I've been looking at a lot of Canova stuff for a while and he has a range. 100m max efforts should be on a 10-12% slope, a 6-12km continuous uphill can be anywhere from 3-8% depending on distance, and long uphill reps (500m-2km) at 3-10% (again depending on distance). I'm planning on having a crack at a continuous uphill at some stage on the treadmill if I can bring myself to spend that long on it!
I didn't know that about Marlow and their event, but I guess they're a relatively small club so it's all hands on deck?
Week didn't go as planned due to being busy with work, but did eventually get my fartlek in on Saturday - 20mins either side of 3 x {3' @ Mara effort, 2' @ 80-85% - 6:17/7:03}, 5 x {1' @ 10km effort, 1' @ 80-85% - 5:56/7:11}, 2 x {2' @ Mara effort, 2' @ 80-85% - 6:16/7:10} + 2' @ 3km effort to finish (5:37).
A 4m jog later on Saturday, and 10+ dotting around supporting at the local HM, and home after, left me on 54m for the week which I'm happy with, especially given Wed-Fri went 5, 0, 5.
Cheers TT, yes will have a think about headphones.
Houghton Hall Parkrun Saturday - quiet 1st K lurking in 3rd/4th then stepped it up to come back in first, in about 17.30. Felt ok as wanted to check fitness
Sunday - 9 miler around Stevenage from the track as Ollie was doing YDL track. Bit lumpy, a bit warm and breezy so felt quite hard, 7.13's. Son VERY happy as he got under 5.00 for 1500 for the first time.
7 this morning, feel ok I think. Tinnitus still there, but feeling better, will do some sessions this week.
60M with light efforts – you are back, SG! Congratulations on the club move.
Good close to the week, TT. Interesting re gradients of hills. Makes sense from a muscle recruitment perspective, but I guess most can’t be too picky.
Nice first place, SC. Must have racked up a few of those in your time. Excellent work from Ollie!
Good luck to TR in London this weekend.
Bristol Track Club put on their annual evening of 5k and 3k races at Odd Down cycle circuit, Bath (there is also a series of 5k only races in the summer). It is becoming increasingly renowned as a seriously fast course in the South West, as long as the wind plays ball. It is atop a hill, and has a slight incline each 0.9M lap, but does finish with a glorious 625m down/flat to the finish.
Aims for the evening: develop some race mental toughness in advance of Boston UK, get some speed in the legs and run a V40 best (19:05 but comfortably sub 19 the real aim).
Mid afternoon were some 3k junior races, and the car park was full by the time we arrived at 1620 before my 1700 race. My friend in the 1740 very graciously dropped me off and then had to park over a km away. I was in the first (slow) wave which catered for 17-30 minute runners, although the vast majority were 17 - 19 minutes. After us were elite women and similarly paced men (low 15s-17s) and then finally elite men (low 14s-16s).
The number queue was alarmingly big with only 35 minutes to kick off. Race kit donned, lunges and leg swings completed whilst inching forward and by the time I'd got my number and timing chip there were only 13 minutes remaining to the start. Better get on with a warm up!
The grass surrounding the tarmac cycle track was in great condition and even a few nice trails off to one side in the woods. 13C and very blustery it wasn’t going to be the very fastest of evenings, but nothing to really complain about.
Onto the start section and lined up about four rows back. 240 were entered in this wave, although the results indicate around 180 finishers.
The first km felt rapid! Pulled along by the tight knit bunch, down hill and with a tailwind, it was kind of inevitable: 3:35. Through the finish funnel to complete one side of the boomerang-shaped course. Then into the wind, up the hill and things inevitably slow a little. But with so many other similarly paces runners, it was easy to keep motivated. 3:42 and 3:46 for km 2 and 3. Stretching out a little now but it was clear I wouldn’t be lapping or getting lapped.
3:40 for the penultimate km and just have to hold on for the quick finish. Others are clearly better at saving something for a sprint, but I am happy with maintaining pace with a 3:40 to finish.
18:25 and pretty happy with a chunky age group PB!
I knew timings would be tight on Sunday, so tried to shoehorn in the 1h45 long run for the week with a 1h14 cool down. Great fun spectating the faster races and mad to see Jake Smith get comprehensively beaten. Although to be fair, he did immediately rip his top off and carry on for another rapid 5k around the course. Mixed views about this when overhearing a few conversations.
13.5M for the evening, first sight of 5:4x miles in a long time and a lot of fun had! On a still evening, this course would be lightening - highly recommended.
Bit different to Handy Cross with a town centre 5miler I expect.
Sounds a decent sesh, just from the classically complicated mix of paces and timings
Casual parkrun from the SC - quicker than any 5k i've done in 18months or so.
SQ - downhill gradient first km in a 5k definitely asks for trouble doesn't it
You'll get that V40 pb down I'm sure.
Did my first proper sesh for what must be about a month.
Solid enough.
4x1mile off 2mins. No particular intention on pace rather than what felt a sensible effort.
Considered it might be progressive, but was relaxed.
Bastad wind one direction probably explains some jumping around in paces.
6.09, 5.48, 5.58, 6.03
I'm not sure you ever feel the wind as such, but the 2nd one was probably the smoothest route.
Whereas the 1st one goes a cross a mini roundabout and then a slight incline first half which doesn't help.
Usual couple of slight hazards and having to be cautious which never helps.
Ideally need to get these sort of reps quicker, but for a first leap in in ages that'll do nicely.
Much better than the 12x30secs last week, with some of them over 6 pace!
SC - well done to Jr on his first sub-5! Nice low-key parkrun from you too.
SG - fair enough as I guess it must draw in a good bit of funding for them too. Good to see you getting back to sessions.
4 jog/6 easy yesterday. 8m easy at lunchtime earlier. Felt quite tired on all. Combination of a (for current fitness) high mileage weekend with my first session in ages in there, plus (particularly today) very mentally intense work stuff, and stupidly high winds! I've been reminding myself of one of Canova's quotes - "Never athletes can run very fast, if are not able to run, sometimes, very slow and easy". Plus I've allowed myself a significant period to rebuild general fitness before I expect to start doing proper workouts, so as long as I'm moving I'm going in the right direction.
SQ, sounds like a good event that 5k, I see you're persevering with this V40 PB nonsense
Nice casual FF at PR, SC. Forget the headphones though, with the amount of track races you do, I think it's obvious why you can hear ringing in your ears!
Nice one TT, no idea what that quote is supposed to mean or who Canova is, I am more of a Casanova fan
As alluded to earlier, I am still coughing. Each and every run, ride or gym session is accompanied with a few fits. I try to keep it quiet in the gym, running involves a few lurching strides and the occasional complete stop and drop to my haunches. I definitely have this whooping cough, there's been a few moments of not being able to breathe and whooping sounds and the occasional bit of vomiting. Lovely.
I am 99.9% sure the bacteria is all gone but the cough persists. Just 18 miles last week and one 7 miler this week so far. Hopefully it sods off soon and doesn't run the full 12 weeks it does for some. My guess is I have another week or so of it to go, as the episodes are becoming both, less frequent and violent!
Felt better Tuesday pm, so ended up with a progressive 4+. Yesterday was just one run of 5+ with short variations (5 x 1' @ cMP, 2' brisk) in the middle, and then 6.5 this morning with 10 x footie pitch diagonals (~115m with recoveries being a shuffle along the end-line of the football pitch) in the middle of jogging. Very much enjoying the sunnier weather.
* was never involved in the cycling scene like a lot of other Italian running coaches, so not tarnished with the same suspicion around doping.
SQ - Good race and report, another good one in the area, I was looking at the Yeovil ones the other day, probably one I'd do if I was still living in the Bmth area.
Reg - Oh that sounds nice! Not like us sensible types to carry on training through an illness
Short 8x 600 session on Tuesday, from 1.53 down to 1.46. Not too bad as a bit twisty. Picked up a slight niggle on that gristly bit on the underside inside of knee. Must be all the twists as it's ok running in a straight line..
If those aren't on a track and that's legit full distance that's an incredible set, especially a 1.46!
Mine is a more humble return to some sort of speed following the cough bug. I'd eased in with 12x30secs last week, and 4x1mile this, and thought i'd throw in sesh 1 of the 5k plan.
8x600(90sec), 2x400m (60sec), 2x200m (30sec)
Felt a bit sluggish on waking up and probably doesn't help much eating then going back for a lie down after!
But it does at least mean I don't have to go out an hour earlier to the track
Route is the sort of loop I do my tempos on, all very varied, crossroads, twisty paths and bends on a park, slight ups and downs, turns and looking out for people and cars. Wind didn't help in 1 direction.
As probably said before it probably suits more the 615 sort of effort level ideally, and the faster the reps needed the more optimistic it is.
Anyway, probs about 2.10 average for the 600s. 1.24/25 400s and 39/43 200s, one slightly down and motivated down, one slight up and legs had finished by then
So not the tastiest paces ever, but quickest stuff in a month so that has to be the takeaway.
Every summer you have that real ugly feeling of going back to the fastest efforts and that very much felt like today!!
Group track starts again 2 weeks today, so hopefully keep progressing to then.
Might have to get some solo stuff in there too to give the best chance of hitting the intensity needed.
5 x 1200's (with 90) last night, back straight a bit breezy, and then the rain started, as per..
Good call to wear my battered Takumi Sen, came out as 3.56/3.50/3.46/3.50/3.43. Lost concentration on the penultimate rep.
4.5 this morning, think it's longish run and Parkrun tomorrow, London marathon watching Sunday.
I can see the logic of eating and going back to sleep pre-sesh, SG. Bit of a toss up between having some fuel on board vs just getting the extra sleep. A solid session anyway. Which 5ks do you have lined up? Highly recommend the Bristol Track Club/Odd Down summer series.
I’m clutching at straws, Reg! Looked a good longer ride for you yesterday.
TT - one or two felt it was disrespectful to those racing him in the 5k, but I certainly haven’t got a problem with it. I’ve enjoyed learning about some of Cannova’s principles. Although his biggest sessions look scary!
Taper time here. Taking a slightly heavier reduction than in previous blocks. Training has gone well and managed pretty much the full 16 weeks.
Tuesday was the final big block of MP. A mile warm up at 7:54 pace then 10M at 6:38s. I still think the watch is adding something here, especially as the wind was filthy on one side of the racecourse. Probably good training for Boston with the coastal winds highly likely. 0.8M of a warm down and felt good with a 6:58. Solid session.
Weights on Wednesday and recovery running for the remainder of the working week. Absolutely knackered!
Family ill and the beginning of a cold for me. Dreadful sleep on Friday, but still got out for the now usual final long run/parkrun at 90%. 11M at 7:07 average with parkrun at 19:15. Eased into it but good to see a 5:59 and 6:01 come up. 52M for the week.
Enjoying the elite coverage at London. There is lady in the lead Brit pack, Alice Wright, I used to teach. Great to see her doing so well. Hope you’re enjoying yourself, SC.
Then throw in some local bootleg stuff too. There's a raft of low key stuff round here that suits being in local club colours.
Need to see a little more assurance on the numbers first, but it is what it is with times. Turning out will give some confidence, but might take a few, as basically done 3 races in about 6months now, with 15k, the Bramley 20 at steady and the 12 stage relay just under 5k. Not a huge amount!
Followed old club and new Londonders today. Did 13 myself (or 13.16 once correcting the distance as it strangely totally dropped off for a min, leaving me reporting 19min miling on a fast section!) which was plenty. 7.25 is decent enough lick, but certainly never finish a 13 wish I was going again.
The 3 guys in and around my level at the new club all turned out today.
One a strong 2.55, the others 3.01 and 3.03.
Interesting seeing how their different circumstances and training panned out.
The 2.55 guy did it a bit on the hoof after a proper buildup at one in autumn, but 2 weeks of resting his foot aside, he did well.
The 3.01 guy has had some up and down stuff the last 2.5months, so he'll definitely go sub 3 when circumstances are better.
3.03 did some incredible training for 2-3months but seemed to peak about 7 weeks ago and then really dropped a gear. He should be sub 3 as well as he's a machine.